H1B approved; H4 denied due to not attending biometrics

Hi, my husband filed H1 and H4 extension for me from New Jersey and traveled to Illinois. My husband H1b got approved but my H4 got denied. This is because of missed biometrics. They’ve sent biometrics to my old address and that mail was lost. I’ve raised this complaint to USCIS by March itself and they’ve told they’re going to send biometrics again. But due to COVID, biometrics offices were closed and USCIS said they’ll send letter once office starts functioning

My I94 was expired on Jan 16th 2020. What are my options? Can I stay in US or should I leave to India ? Considering COVID, travel is very risky

Can you please provide some insight around this?

You can file i539 with NPT option but you do not have much time to wait for its result.

USCIS may or may not approve it.

If they approve, everything will be hunky dory. But, if they deny, you would have already spent more than 180 days in ‘Unlawful presence’.

Some people have got success. You can read here:

Hi Anil - Thanks for the reply. I can go out to get stamping . But due to covid, we’re stuck here. Is it possible to apply B1 Visa or any other Visa within US to make sure am not accruing illegal status in US?

You cannot apply any other visa like B2 until your current status is legal.

At this time, you are ‘out of status’. USCIS will deny the application even if you apply.

Thanks Anil. My company said they’ll not support H4 and they’ll handle only H1B.

Is filling NPT straight forward or should I work with immigration attorney?

Thanks,
Dileep…

I suggest to work with an attorney.

Hello,

In September 2019, my employer filled extension for my H1 and my H4 dependent in regular processing. My employer converted it to premium processing and it was approved on Jan 30 2020 with validity only until 31st March 2020.

For my H4 dependent, I got RFE on Mar 6 2020. I was awaiting for the notice and meanwhile my employer filled another extension for my H1 and my H4 dependent on March 24/26 2020. H1 got approved on Apr 1 2020 and H4 still under adjudication. I never received the H4 RFE.

Not exactly sure when, but using erequest link of USCIS, I inquired about older H4 case it showed up saying invalid receipt number. I made sure I’m entering correct receipt number however it gave me same invalid receipt number error again and again. Finally i thought as the new case was filled in March the older one is automatically invalidated within there systems. So far all was good.

On morning of Aug 11 2020, I got an email notification that H4 was denied and that the denial receipt has additional information. Still awaiting receipt in mail.

Concerns:

  1. Is my dependent okay to stay in US as H1 is valid and current/newer H4 extension is still under adjudication?
  2. If the denied case receipt was showing invalid on USCIS site for requesting RFE receipt and address change then how come suddenly the case status was changed?
  3. What would be my next steps as my employer do not support H4 adjudications? Apart from awaiting for paper receipt.

Please help as I have never got any H4 denials since last more than 7 years.

Many Thanks,
Vishal

Any help or guidance on this is highly appreciated!!

H4 should be okay to stay back , but please check with Immigration Attorney, as your situation is complex involving multiple H4 , RFE , Denial etc.

  1. H1 and H4 extensions applied on May 2019
  2. H1 extension approved on Oct 2019 (Valid until Feb 2021)
  3. I-94 Expired on Aug 26 2019.
  4. H4 Extension Denied on May 2nd 2020 ( for not attending Biometrics,)
  5. Applied for H4 -NPT, the case received on June 17 2020(Filed NPT as neither attorney or myself didn’t get notice for Biometrics)
  6. H4-NPT -Biometrics done on 9/30

Now Waiting on H4-NPT decision from USCIS…

But the concern is that ,as the H4 case was denied in May 2020 ,if they overstay after Nov 4th 2020. (6 months) leads to BAN.

If we wait for H4-NPT positive decision and overstay even after Nov 4th

My question is…

  1. How Positive can we be on decision from USCIS and risk to overstay…as NPT case was accepted and we completed Biometrics also ?

  2. If we overstay in US beyond Nov 4th and get Positive decision from USCIS … will there be still a BAN on H4? Due to overstay ?

  3. Is overstay calculated from the date of H4 denial or I-94 Expiry?

  4. Will be any impact on my kid(H4) who is Minor due to overstay in future?

  5. What impact will be there on wife(H4) if overstay for 3 months ?

  6. In this what else we can do to get an Immediate decision from USCIS before Nov 4th 2020.? (Attorney requested for an expedite request but got denied as did not provide evidence of extreme emergent need)

Hi Dileep, What action you guys took. We are also having same issue they never sent appointment.

Hello Sir,
My wife’s H4 visa was valid till Mar 09, 2020. I recently received a notice of denial for my wife’s H4 petition on Dec 1, 2020 in regards to the petition submitted on Jan 22, 2020. The reason provided for this denial is failure to attend biometrics appointment notice that was supposedly sent on Feb 13, 2020. We never received biometrics appointment notice in our mail or even after contacting USCIS customer service. But we are told we abandoned the application by not appearing for biometrics resulting into denial.

In the month of June 2020, I changed my employer and a new H1 and H4 petition was filed for me and my wife respectively. I got approval on my H1 but we are still waiting for my wife’s biometrics appointment notice on the new petition as well.

This denial notice states that if applicant accrues more than 180 days of unlawful presence in the US, and then departs, then he/she is inadmissible to the US for a period of 3 or 10 years. Please help us urgently with couple of questions -

  1. Since my wife has been deemed out of status per the notice, but she has continued to stay in the US waiting for her earlier H4 adjudication and now the new H4 adjudication (also taking into account the Covid-19 pandemic due to which she could not travel), we wanted to know if she can continue to stay in the US or needs to travel back to India immediately.

  2. What is the legal option to rectify this situation and help her get a valid H4 visa.

  3. The notice has a warning stating if applicant has accrued more than 180 days of unlawful presence in the states, and then departs, is inadmissible to the US for 3 or 10 years. It also says we can file a motion to reopen this petition within 33 days of this notice. If we file this motion, would this help us avoid this kind of a ban of admission into the US? Also, would this also help us rectify any unlawful presence that she might have accrued?

Looking forward to any kind of advice/legal solution/past experiences in this matter.

Hi all,

My h4 extension (the fourth one) expired on august 9 21 and my extension application was submitted in April 2021. My husbands H1b was submitted along with my application and that got approved but uscis denied my h4 today (waiting for denial notice to arrive to know the reason).

I have a 7 month old baby and her passport is also work in progress so she can’t travel to India with me.

What do you believe my options are? Do j need to get out of the Usa?

It depends on the denial reason which looks unusual without RFE.

Did you miss the biometric that was scheduled?

No, I never received a biometric letter.

Then, wait for the denial letter to see why they have denied it.

Does that make a difference in my stay here?

Not sure how this works. Thank you for your help